“Transcreation” is a combination of “translation” and “creation”, and refers to the process of translating a message into another language while preserving its original creative intent. In the era of economic globalization and cultural diversity, transcreation has been widely used and practiced in cross-language and cross-cultural translation activities such as video games, websites, audiovisual products, literature, etc. Scholars, domestic and abroad, have been paying increasing attention to the study of creative translation in recent years. The Chinese television series Journey to the West, which debuted in 1986, is a classic. This TV series has remained popular for decades and now settled into the collective memory of Chinese people. Its English translation was shown on the CCTV app in 2021, helping to spread the knowledge of Journey to the West among English-speaking audiences. Through the lens of transcreation, this essay aims to analyze the translation of proper names in the English version of the 1986 TV series Journey to the West. Additionally, it seeks to examine the potential motivations behind the translator(s)’s use of transcreation, as well as its expressive effects. The essay recognizes the shortcomings of the existing translation version and makes some recommendations for improvement. Meanwhile, based on the research findings, it puts forward feasible suggestions on English translation of proper names in films and television works on traditional Chinese culture in order to better promote the spread of traditional Chinese culture.
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Gao Ziyin (2024) studied this question.
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